Constructive Advice Regarding Benefits Required Please

Edinburgh65

Given the state of the employment market at the moment, it does not make good sense to restrict your job search to full-time and permanent roles, regardless of what you believe to be good reasons for doing so, as such jobs can be rarer than hen's teeth. It is not realistic for you to be so picky. You need to be open to any opportunities, and a lot less bitter about what happened to you 5 years ago. Many people have axes to grind with ex-employers, but you just have to move on.

busy_mom_2

Based on the length of time signing on you would be well aware of the changes to the sanction imposed for failing to comply with JSA. Previously job seekers were disallowed for the number of days they failed to attend, so under the old rules you would of only lost one days benefit. the rules changed and all job seekers were issued with notifications explaining they would now be imposed with sanctions, 1 week for the first time you fail to attend, two weeks for the second time and every subsequent time.

mixtrixx

rozmister wrote: »

You'd only lose 1 days pay because you'd turn up to work the other FOUR days of the week. If you only worked one day of the week (the equivalent of signing on) you'd lose all your pay if you didn't turn up on the SOLE day you worked. I'm not saying you don't do work seeking employment from your home but to compare signing for JSA to a job is ridiculous and a useless analogy.

With regards to your argument you shouldn't have lost the week I think it would be healthier to let it go and move on. It's very unlikely your appeal would be successful and the time you spend obsessing over it and working yourself up is time wasted when you could have been doing something more constructive. I also think this whole thing about claiming for stress is ridiculous. We're all stressed due to other people's incompetence; employed or not. Deal with it.

Thanks for you reply...

This is my point ". If you only worked one day of the week (the equivalent of signing on)" When you receive notification of being entitled to receive JSA, it states that £65.40 per week is what the law says you are able to live on per week".

But although I have had 5 day's money stopped, I am still obliged to fulfill an agreement which has already been broken in that I have to continue to search the remaining 4 days of the week in which I have been available to work, but expected to do it without the 4 days additional benefits they stopped irregardless of being fully available.

OK obviously I am not explaining myself as to what stress is regarded by the citizens advice bureau which you have been subject to due to misleading and unclear information with regards to benefit.


My letter I received

"As a result in a change in your circumstance in which you failed to attend an interview with a Job Centre Plus Adviser on the correct day of signing, you will no longer continue to receive Jobseekers Allowance, Housing & Council Tax Benefits and Help towards your Mortgage or Home Loan Interest Payments from January 31st 2011"

to cut to the chase, in no way does that paragraph or the remainder of the letter received inform me of

How long benefits have been stopped for
Why Housing & Coucil Tax aswell as help with Mortgage Interest have also been stopped
Why Housing & Council Tax Benefit is included in this letter, when it states that these benefits are dealt with by the council, yet I am informed that they have already been stopped by the same Decision Maker responsible for making the decisions on my JSA & Mortgage Interest Benefits at a Job Centre Plus Office 20 Miles away from my Local Council.
To further enforce the above, why is it that several days later, I am then sent a letter through the council, informing me, that the DWP have stopped my JSA, and proof would be required to show that I am still in receipt of JSA, but this was simply to much hassle to include in the letter the DWP sent the Council, meaning I have to pay out the costs of Stamps and Envelopes, after I have just been told that 5 days money has been stopped for signing on 1 day late which now means the £65.40 the law says you are able to live on per week, has been stopped for signing on a day late, but yet expected to seek employment including travel costs, pay Internet & Telephone Bills, Electricity Bills, Find Mortgage Payment,after I have successfully manged to find £25 payments that are being issued as Administration Charges due to Direct Debits bouncing due to not having the 4 out of the 5 days money I am obliged to receive if a Jobseekers agreement signed mutually by myself and a JC+ Adviser which make up part of the requirements necessary to receive Jobseekers allowance,
To then have to go through all of the above, over a weekend, not knowing how if I can pay £300 worth of outgoing Direct Debits which all come out within days of the money in question being forfeited to then be told by a JC+ Worker that "These letters are always worse then they look" 3 days later, to which they could still see puzzled as to why it was a weeks money that it was stopped through being 1 day late signing on, to which I was quickly told to take it up with my Local Job Centre, away from the original office that made the sanction.
Even now, I am still paying the costs of a Local Rate number in order to clear this !!!! up, all of which could of been avoided had the information of been presented more user friendly. Rather then give the impression that the decision maker was made by a relative of the employment service Adviser who took the looked happy to give me the news in which I was facing a sanction, way before the appeal was even made.

That is what I considered to be Stress, which is somewhat of a hot topic for it to be listed as a issue on with regards to problems with benefits on the citizens advice bureau website.

It's seems quite apparent that half of the responses claiming that I am being silly or childish about the stress it had actually caused me, has obviously not had the full displeasure of dealing with the JC or DWP.

Either that or they don't deal with day to day finances of running their lives.

busy_mom_2

Edinburgh65 wrote: »

Given the state of the employment market at the moment, it does not make good sense to restrict your job search to full-time and permanent roles, regardless of what you believe to be good reasons for doing so, as such jobs can be rarer than hen's teeth. It is not realistic for you to be so picky. You need to be open to any opportunities, and a lot less bitter about what happened to you 5 years ago. Many people have axes to grind with ex-employers, but you just have to move on.

Someone who has been signing for this length of time must be prepared to any type of work they are capable of doing. The should have no restrictions on the agreement with the only exception of the times they can work if they rely on public transport, or because of health conditions. I'm sorry but there is simply no reason why this person has not found some sort of employment after this length of unemployment.

The reforms mentioned today will not be good news.

Yes at the moment jobs are scarce, but not 5 years ago! There is still work out there but some people except a job to come along and be given to them.

Edinburgh65

At your advanced stage of unemployment, you should be job searching every day because you want to and need to, not because you are fulfilling an agreement with the Jobcentre. Unless you change your attitude you are never going to get out of the very deep hole that you have dug for yourself.

welshmoneylover

mixtrixx wrote: »

OK I have removed information that appeared above due to the fact that people were failing to see how relevant it would become. But either through to not reading the information fully or misinterpreting what I was trying to get at, have decided to remove the information. So below is my problem.


my problem.

My last signing on date before the Christmas and New Year Period in which the Job Center was closed was on Monday 20th December 2010.
Two weeks prior to this, I had been signing on, on Tuesdays, and had been for the previous 5 years until the Job Center made changes to they days in which people were to sign on, and was introduced nationwide.

This would mean that the next time I physically attended the Job Center to sign on would be Monday 17th January 2011.

However, due quickly glancing at the old Job Seekers signing on book that I had, which shows my old signing on day (being a Tuesday) it for some reason stuck in my head that I was due to sign on, on Tuesday 18th January. Also, because I genuinely believed that this was the date I was due to sign on, then I obviously did not realize that I had made a mistake, so therefore I continued to sign on, on the Tuesday thinking nothing more of it. (even the signing on time was the same as it was previously).

So, upon the day of signing on, I was informed that I should of signed on the day before and after explaining all of the above to the staff at the front desk, I was made to fill in the forms as to the reasons as to why I signed on a day late. (and all done within the same space as what you get on the back of a 1st class stamp).

I was then told that a Decision Maker would look at the information I provided and would make an "Impartial" decision based on the information I provided.

This decision came back in the form of a letter, to which it basically states, "We cannot pay you JSA Allowance, Housing & Council Tax Benefits & Mortgage Interest Support from 31st January 2011 as you failed to attend an interview with a Personal Adviser on the date you were required to do so".

Now, after further investigating, it seems apparent that under section 6 of the Job Seekers Agreement, that if you sign on 1 day late, that your are subject to forfeit 1 weeks money.

That in itself I find ridiculous, being that when advisers seem to always refer to work based scenario's in which they say "You would not get paid if you turned up for work late", but yet fail to answer the response of "Have you ever had 1 weeks wages stopped for missing 1 day's work?" is somehow left unanswered!

Anyway, with that aside (as it seems that I signed my whole life away to agree with in my Job Seekers Agreement) so I know it's not worth appealing against that, expecting to get a result. (Although, it is worth mentioning that they somewhat fail to include the letter notifying you as to "What the law says you are expected to live on" which just happens to be £70 per week, which is the same amount they dock your benefits by.

My whole argument with the decision I received is purely down to how uninformative it really was, where the information given was that unclear in terms of :

A. Your JSA, Housing & Council Tax Benefit & Mortgage Interest Support has been stopped. (This appearing as though your claim has been ceased and would suggest another claim for all 3 benefits needed to be made).

B. Having received the letter on a Friday, I was therefore left to live with virtually no heating on for 3 days, to which I suffer from "Raynaud's phenomenon" (which for those who are not familiar with the correct medical term, is actually frostbite caused from through work related activity) all because I was left no not knowing as to how I would be able to pay the forthcoming electricity bill.

C. Having to phone an 0845 Local Rate Number and spend 10 minutes to try to get more clear and precise information which should of been made in the decision makers letter, to then be told that the letters are "Always worse then they appear".

D. After having received notification from the DWP about my benefit money being "Stopped" as of the 31st of January 2011, the local council require that I send in Information to provide that I am actually receiving benefits, meaning that I have to pay out to cover the cost of an envelope and stamp, let alone order paper bank statements, as I bank on line, where all this could of been avoided had the DWP of simply added the date that JSA would resume payable from.

Now forgive me if I'm wrong, but that does not seem like a decision which was made impartially in the sense that my personal circumstances, in terms of taking both well-being & living in to consideration, has actually been looked at by anyone that gives a !!!! about no one but themselves.

So now, I'm left to appeal for Hardship, where £70 of my benefits have been forfeited cannot cover the monthly £67.00 electricity bill (and to my understanding, your only expected to receive 20 to 40% of the original amount lost!!


So...... My question is..... Do I have a good enough case to not only appeal against the original decision? Or at best at least a good enough reason to appeal for the Hardship, and would this be considered worthwhile sending off to the DWP as an official complaint, as I'm somewhat led to believe that the C.A.B consider the lack of clear information that the DWP provide regarding benefits is just cause to claim for compensation due to causing unnecessary stress?


Many Thanks


PS. After actually reading the form provided by the job center about appealing against a decision made which states that Housing & Council Tax Benefit would also be stopped which appears to be a decision made by the same person at the same office who dealt with the JSA and Mortgage Benefits being stopped, is it then mentioned on Page 6 of "If you think our decision is wrong" April 2010 the following:

"Housing & Council Tax Benefit"

"Your local council makes decisions about Housing Benefits & Council Tax Benefit and how much you can get. If you think that a decision is wrong then contact the council office that pays your benefit"

So why are the council sending me a letter informing me that the DWP have contacted them stating that my JSA Benefit has been stopped and would therefore need to provide evidence to show that I am still eligible to receive JSA in order to continue receiving Housing & Council Tax Benefit, if it was indeed the Housing & Council Tax Benefit who stopped those benefits in the first place?

This is my whole argument, total lack of information set out clearly.

I have read your responses and you come across as an individual who is putting up every barrier possible to you seeking employment.

Here's to another 5 years on the dole :beer:

busy_mom_2

welshmoneylover wrote: »

I have read your responses and you come across as an individual who is putting up every barrier possible to you seeking employment.

Here's to another 5 years on the dole :beer:

Yes but 3 years of those sanctioned for refusing employment under the new reforms!

How many more PV clients will we be signing soon, we will need more screened rooms!;)

SingleSue

mixtrixx wrote: »

Thanks for your reply..

I have applied for the same 3 types of Work Areas as listed in my Job Seekers Agreement, which are Warehouse, IT & Shop Floor Filling.

The limitations preventing me from applying for everything going, is that I require Full Time and Permanent based Jobs, as even Job Center staff suggest that I apply for nothing less based on my monthly outgoings, in which I would be better of in work.

The trouble is, is that Full Time, Permanent jobs have been very hard to come by, especially over the last year and a half with everything that's going on in todays society, where cutbacks could be made, were made.

Also, the majority of jobs offered through the DWP almost 70% Agency based, and to which I have had 3 bad experiences with Agencies, before. Two of these 3 times, I had applied to do warehouse work, but due to the ability of the agency being able to shift you about from job to job, I was later put into a factory job to which the operation of machinery that created vibrations, would always cause pins and needles and "White Finger" to occur which I due to a work related injury means that any i get these symptoms when my hands are subject to cold water, cold wind, and triggered off through using vibrating machinery.
But due to not being able to do this job, and nothing being available, this prohibited me from signing on, as I did not comply with my previous Jobseekers agreement in which although I signed up to say I would do Agency work in the Warehouse sector, then if I were moved to either retail or factory like I was, and left for whatever reason, then my benefits would be affected through not fulfilling my previous Jobseekers agreement. So now I do not touch agencies whatsoever, as the other time I had worked for an agency it was to "Work in a clean yard moving 8 foot Steel Fences" where in actual fact not only was I left to work without adequate clothing in the rain, this job suddenly involved painting these frames, and shifting them around from a to b on your own.

I have 14 years of PC Experience, from Building to customizing to repairing and troubleshooting and using, however, the level of knowledge I have surpasses the amount of funding available in which further training to develop my existing knowledge would cost. Also, most IT Jobs are field based, and unfortunately I do not hold a Driving Licence, so would be looking for Onsite IT Work.

The One years worth of Voluntary work I did, was with a well known Computer Training Company in which I managed to at least obtain an ITQ NVQ Level 2 Qualification.

I personally think you need to start thinking outside of the box as restricting yourself to only 3 sectors of employment will not be doing your job search any favours.

As an example, I was being made redundant, I had a mortgage to pay so needed to find something PDQ...after searching in my normal sector and not being successful, I started to reach out and investigate other lines of employment, working in a care home just one of them. I had never worked in a care home, had no interest in working for a care home in fact but I impressed them enough for them to offer me a position...albeit at 6k less than my previous job (and this was in 1990 ish when 6k was an awful lot of money), at that salary, it would have just about covered my half of the mortgage.

As it was, I didn't accept their offer because on the same day I got the letter offering me the position, I was head hunted by another firm in the same sector as where I was being made redundant from but if that further offer had not come in, I would have accepted the care assistant job rather than claiming unemployment benefit.

Sometimes a change can be as good as a rest, sometimes it doesn't work out but sometimes we need to take that risk to move forward, especially in these times of government and benefit changes.

As an aside, I noticed mention of Ipswich, are you local to there?

mixtrixx

welshmoneylover wrote: »

I have read your responses and you come across as an individual who is putting up every barrier possible to you seeking employment.

Here's to another 5 years on the dole :beer:

If what you say is correct, then luckily I have done nothing to bring attention on myself to which would possibly get me head hunted by every member of staff at JC+ offices Nationwide then?
With any luck my secret will be out the bag, and someone can actually help me back into employment.

welshmoneylover

mixtrixx wrote: »

If what you say is correct, then luckily I have done nothing to bring attention on myself to which would possibly get me head hunted by every member of staff at JC+ offices Nationwide then?
With any luck my secret will be out the bag, and someone can actually help me back into employment.

Have you thought about helping yourself back into employment?

Thinking outside the box can work wonders :j